Y211

Over Christmas we watched "It's a Wonderful Life." I didn't realize Charlie had never seen it. It's one of my favorite movies. I always forget and remember how much story comes before the seeing-life-if-George-Bailey-had-never-been-born part. My very favorite part, though, is of course the end when all of the "riff raff" pour into the Baileys' house and give what little bits they can to help George come up with the missing $8,000.

My dad said it and I agree for my own different reasons, 2010 was his "It's a Wonderful Life." It was mine, too. On one hand, I learned a valuable lesson and appreciate so much more than I think I did before. I saw I have a lot of friends and I have very good ones.
And, I mean, dudes, I was on BBC! I was in the NY Times, like, MANY times. And Foreign Policy! And I passed two bar exams while working full-time, can we revisit that accomplishment?? I also celebrated the beginnings of five new marriages of people I love. (and watched/helped another I love end hers... sad but probably also in the "good" column since "good" is being happy and healthy and whole.)
But a good portion of the year was terrible and I was so incredibly scared and unhappy and still feel so frayed and damaged about it I start crying. Less so now but by the fall I felt so tired, deep, deep down.

But. Holy shit. How bizarre. It's almost like a "be careful what you wish for" thing. Oh, you think being on BBC would be rad? Ok, well, we're going to put you through so much that six months later when the Associated Press calls you about something completely unrelated, you will have negative desire to call them back. (Yep. That happened. Last week.) My co-worker said, "it's kind of fun to see your name in the paper." Nope, not really anymore.
But enough bemoaning and verification I need to process all of this with a professional, eh?
My "Wonderful Life" illustrated all of the good for me, too. (these are not in order)
I love my job. See: previous post.
I love my man/boyfriend/joint tenant with right of survivorship/whatever- I don't need to gush over him on the internet, but he is a great person who makes me laugh, supports me in the ways I need and keeps me honest.
I have awesome dogs. See: FACT.
I have a warm house which always needs more TLC but is totally mine. Well, half mine. But, you know. Even when this happens (welcome home!):

I have so many friends. When in crisis or joy, I feel they're family I created for myself. Which brings me back to "Wonderful Life." George learns his friends, the riff raff, are there when he needs them. I learned my own riff raff, a coalition of people I've collected over the years, care about me. This is maybe stupid and oversharing, but for a kid who read Little Women on the playground when she was friendless in 1st grade and whose mother freshman year told her her college friends didn't really know her because if they did, they wouldn't like her (crazy shit, right?)... it's incredibly significant. It's significant and gratifying that I've picked amazingly high quality people to befriend and they've picked me back. I am both lucky and reenforced that I must be pretty darn ok if these awesome people all showed up at the house with whatever donation they could make. And then we sang Auld Lang Syne. No, wait, that was the movie.
Anyway. I can't trade experience. Do I wish lots of 2010 never happened? Yes. Do I see the value in the struggle? Yes, that too. Did a learn lots about myself and other people? Um... yeah, ok, fine. Am I pleased as fuck 2010 is over? Yes, ma'am.

On these first days of the new beginning, here's hoping for us all 2011 is a year of health and happiness and lessons learned as least painfully as possible.

Happy Christmas!

It's over. Kind of a relief. Although we got a lot more X-mas decor that I put up after shopping extreme clearance on December 26th. Christmas was really nice, though. We cooked a ham (have you done that? turns out baking a regular ham is tasty and not salty like the processed ones and takes a long time.) We had a variation of a Swedish smorgasbord. We went to the Grand Canyon on Christmas Eve, we were there with all the shintos and hindus and other Christmas rejects. My dad and his wife were here, we did a bunch of things I'd wanted to do with them, mostly involved eating different places. Like here and here.
It was nice not to travel for once.
It was nice to have them here and also kind of nice when they left Saturday afternoon and we went to True Grit and had another night and day of holiday weekend left. In all a perfectly lovely southwestern Christmas, it was even a white one (no, not an SB1070 joke) with the reasonable amount of snow we got on the 22nd.
Even though I am among the Christmas rejects, I was/am still grateful for the opportunity to spend time with people (and dogs) I love. Another highlight is that I ate way, way too many meatballs and have been practically mainlining broccoli and green pepper strips while I'm at work this week to try to compensate. Mmmm. Meatballs.

DADT

"Our friend Maggie bought this wallet at a vintage store, and inside found a photo of the previous owner, up front, and then another, of him posing affectionately with another soldier, hidden in the back, behind a panel in the wallet.

Here's to our soldiers never having to hide who they love again."

from here.

Official

I think a new way of talking has people saying, "It's official, I'm ____" or "I'm officially ______." It happens a lot on facebook, but other places, too. It's the new "I feel like _____." And once you start noticing it, it will slowly drive you crazy.

You're welcome.

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

I thought about this quote a lot over the past month, fighting my hard battle. There has been a lot that has been very strange about the past month. I mean, really bizarre. The psychology of the whole thing is really beyond my armchair pop psychology abilities… in others, it’s fascinating, uplifting, disappointing to see who was there, who stepped up and who didn’t and how others reacted. There was this amazing, completely indescribable outpouring from the world. I said something like this at the press conference back in Minnesota, but without the Wailing Wall portion—I remember being at the Wailing Wall and feeling this energy… because whether or not you believe it has its own sacredness, there is so much human energy being focused toward it, it was palpable. I found the same to be true over this month, I felt like I could actually feel the energy and work and support of so many, many people. I was like the mom who lifts a Volvo off her toddler, there was this superpower that was fueled by that energy. Amazing. And lots of other words that are so overused that when something that truly incredible happens… they sound weak.
But in this extreme crisis, I was amazed at how both beautifully wonderful and completely cruel strangers can be. So much, more than I will ever know, of our success is due to friends and strangers reaching out, taking action and making this critical mass work. And I can't be more grateful. But to the woman who yelled at me to "get off the phone!" the day my dad was arrested and I was standing at the side of the gas station talking to a reporter? And the woman who was incredibly rude and put out when my dad's wife knocked over her empty glass while getting into our table at a restaurant after learning hours earlier that my dad would be released and preparing to eat our first meal of the day at 3pm after attending the UN Security Council Meeting? And to the reporter who misquoted me, causing me to called my father’s despicable lawyer daughter in the comments of the article-and every other one to come? And to whoever called me a prostitute in some other comments? And to the man who yelled at the overworked medical resident to move her car after she'd driven over an hour to see her friend who lives across the country and whose father was just released from 3 weeks in Rwandan jail? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? The vitriol was astonishing. You’re calling me and my family monsters and wishing us ill? See, I (the monster or at least spawn of the monster) would never say such cruel things about anyone. I would never delight in a family’s misery and fear and call names. Why? Because I was raised better by that monster. Even just being rude because you're having a bad day... unacceptable, you never know the effect of your unkindness on someone in the middle of their battle. On the flip side, woman at JFK, you'll never know how much it meant when you handed me your unlimited metro card, for no reason. It works both way.
There are so many more examples of the ways people were extraordinary, though, I don’t want to downplay that. I am more sure now than ever that I have amazing friends and I have met many more amazing people. Strangers, who have remained strangers, were amazing. For someone who isn’t good at asking for help, owing so much to people I’ll never meet is… humbling. Humbling is both knowing that people will help you because they know you and they care, and that people will help someone they don’t know because it is the right thing to do. The overwhelming lesson was really 1) people can be beautiful and 2) the internet is assholes.

Dad in Rwanda

I am pretty sure there is no one who reads this who wouldn't already know, but my dad was arrested in Rwanda yesterday morning. He was there, as an attorney, representing the opposition presidential candidate in her own criminal case. There are some stories about it here and here and here and here.
It's been truly exhausting, so far two days of near-constant phone calls, emails and calling/faxing the government when not otherwise occupied. If you want to know what you can do, that's really it. Call the State Department, call your Congressional Delegation and call the White House, ask for them to demand he be released immediately. This is a list of phone numbers, This is a press release a group I am working with generated today and This is the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation Press Release.
Anyway, I wrote my dad a letter today, trying to work on some of the feelings that I haven't really been feeling because I've been running constantly. I'll put it here because this remains my space, for doing things like writing weepy letters. I'll give it to him when he comes home. Right after a great big hug and possibly a proverbial punch in the nose (possibly also literal punch in the nose.)

Dear Dad,

It’s late afternoon on Saturday here in Arizona. I’ve spent the last two days emailing, faxing, calling and answering calls from what feels like everyone in the world. I’ve talked to your colleagues from all kinds of work you’ve done. Work in Africa, Minnesota, Amsterdam… really everywhere. We had two conference calls yesterday and it was so heartwarming to hear the voices of these friends you’ve made all over the place. This has become the hardest part for me, personally, so much of this action and organizing, you would love to see. I keep wanting to tell you about something that happened, some amazing connection people have made and demonstration of the power of all of these people working together. You would love to see it.

There has been an unbelievable outpouring—people from all parts of both of our lives have come out of the woodwork and showed their support. All of the parts of our family, the National Lawyers Guild, the Law School, long-lost friends and colleagues. When your brother spoke to the State Department yesterday, the woman said, “It seems like you all were ready for this to happen.” He said he just laughed and said, “No, we’re all just really motivated and stubborn as hell.” You would be so proud.

I’ve realized some things over the past two days. One is that we have taken far too few pictures together recently. I saw that when I had to send one to a Minneapolis TV station. We need to fix that when you get back. I’ve also realized how much your work means to the people who benefit from it. I’ve received dozens of facebook messages and emails from Rwandans thanking me for your work, for standing up for them and for now bringing light to their situation. They love you. I can’t tell them how I really feel in my heart of hearts, though, that selfishly I hope when you get out, you’ll open up a solo practice doing Wills or something. That when I stop moving, as I only have a couple of times since we got news of your arrest yesterday morning, I am so, so paralyzingly and blindingly scared and my heart is so heavy. I know that theirs are too and that you have been someone to lighten theirs… but I want you to be here to make me feel better. Because you’re my dad and that’s what you’ve always done. I stop and I am so angry at you for putting yourself in this situation, I want you to come back so I can scream and yell at you about how angry and scared you’ve made me.

Someone else told me to remember a righteous wind is at our backs. And I know this. From all the messages and all the support, I have been reminded of how proud I am of you and your work. All joking aside about the fact that I’ve become an attorney, too, so much of the person and lawyer I have become is due to the person and kind of lawyer you are. I’ve learned to work like hell from you and I’ve learned that all people deserve respect from you. I’ve thought about some of the things you’ve told me over (and over and over!) all my life—to figure out who you want to benefit from you work and the rest comes easily. That a society is best judged by how they treat their weakest members. Not to believe everything you read. That history is written by the victors. I would like to remind you now about the MLK quote, the arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice. I miss you terribly, I love you so much and I look forward to writing this history with you, as victors, on the side of justice.

Love,

Sarah

Obama

Every once in a while, every once in a while a moment comes where you have a chance to vindicate all those best hopes that you had about yourself, about this country, where you have a chance to make good on those promises that you made in all those town meetings and all those constituency breakfasts and all that traveling through the district, all those people who you looked in the eye and you said, you know what, you’re right, the system is not working for you and I’m going to make it a little bit better.

And this is one of those moments. This is one of those times where you can honestly say to yourself, doggone it, this is exactly why I came here. This is why I got into politics. This is why I got into public service. This is why I’ve made those sacrifices. Because I believe so deeply in this country and I believe so deeply in this democracy and I’m willing to stand up even when it’s hard, even when it’s tough.

Every single one of you have made that promise not just to your constituents but to yourself. And this is the time to make true on that promise. We are not bound to win, but we are bound to be true. We are not bound to succeed, but we are bound to let whatever light we have shine.

-This man is not perfect, he's not a silver bullet and he has disappointed in so many ways already. But goddamn if he doesn't talk like the president we wish he was. The president I still hope we deserve.

Tranblemanntè v. Terremoto

I just have one quick thing to say about the recent Chilean earthquake. Well, probably more than one and probably not so quick. First, as I've been reminiscing a lot lately, I spent a really wonderful six months in Santiago. It wasn't wonderful because of the 70s architecture or the esmog (do I miss blowing my nose black every night? Um, not really...) but it was a time of little responsibility, where I came as close I ever have to "speaking" spanish and where I spent some great time with people who remain some of my favorite Americans. Perhaps not the cross-cultural exchange Wesleyan had in mind... but those people are still my good friends. So that counts.
But this has nothing to do with that. Someone retweeted something on Twitter on Monday about how Haiti v. Chile was a good example of "good government".... and it pissed me off. I didn't respond because, well, folks rarely retweet expecting a total diatribe in 140 character intervals. And also... I was busy. But anyway. Shockingly, like everything else in life, this is so much more complicated than that. I can speak to it because I was a Latin American Studies major and half a Latin American Studies master, right? Riiiight...
Chile and Haiti have nothing in common. From vastly distinct colonial histories to vastly distinct modern histories, these countries evolved in opposite directions. Haiti is dirt poor, we know this. We know rebuilding isn't really "re"-anything, it's creating systems and infrastructure for the first time. Chile is usually the most prosperous Latin American country with that 70s style modern architecture in Santiago and with total poverty in the campo. Not, like, Haitian poverty... but poverty. But Chile doesn't want to deal with it's poverty because that's not the Chilean image of itself. Much of Chile's economic success comes from the foundations laid by Pinochet and the neo-cons during his reign, which was also brutally repressive. The country remains divided between those who emerged from the Pinochet-era disgusted by what had happened to their country and a strong 1/3 of the population who believe that certain "excesses" were worth it because the economy did so well. And Chile continues to enjoy overall economic success because of the foundation laid during that period. "Good" government, Pinochet?
Resources alone do not dictate how a government will respond to disaster. Um, Katrina? But they do dictate how well a country can prepare through zoning, building codes and emergency channels. And how well a country can respond through emergency responders and so on. There are legitimate gripes with the way Preval handled things in Haiti. Michele Bachelet seems to have done a better job (because she could) but is also faulted with saying Chile could do it themselves.... resulting in fewer international donations. Text CHILE to 901901? I don't think so...
It's a natural comparison because they're the same kind of disaster happening to countries somewhere south of us. But it's irrelevant. It's like comparing the way France and Somalia respond to disaster. I suppose you could say France would fare better because of "good" government. But it's kind of silly and obviously incomplete. And really just feeds into blaming developing nations for their own underdevelopment without even considering that the developed world got that way at their expense. It's all terribly more complicated, I know. But please, the take home is... be careful what you re-tweet, because it could very well be setting off a firestorm in Flagstaff.

Late August

My friend Josie has a wonderful post about this, we're entering the 4th anniversary of Katrina. Like she says, it's funny (um, not ha-ha funny, come on now...) how much my life has changed because of Katrina, in these four years and for the better.

Four years ago I had been reading all I could read and watching all I could watch about what was happening while at work. I met Jota and David for Happy Hour, we spent every Tuesday that summer at some weird and mostly lame bar in Tribeca that had outdoor seating and strong $2 margaritas on Tuesdays (and neither of those things are weird or lame at all.) That was when information was minimal, I remember David saying 10,000 people were dead. Of course it ended up being both more and less severe than this. I remember so clearly trying to comprehend that through a couple of strong $2 margaritas.

Since then we've all three become lawyers. I spent 2.5 of those years working for and with students and people of the Gulf Coast. I found a passion, my passion, and I found out how hard I could work. I found new skills. I did good work. I met great people. As one of the SHN friends said, "my closest friends in law school don't go to my school." That friend, he is down there. So many of those people are working in the region, continuing the work we did together. The anniversary has made me think about how I am not. Earlier this summer, before Flagstaff was 100% for sure and when there was possibility I would be in New Orleans, another wonderful friends I know through this work sent me a text message, reassuring me, "you will do good and important work wherever you are." And so I am not disappointed, or even wrestling with it, although on this anniversary is feels strange to have gotten so close and come so far from that place. To have become part of a community and then gone somewhere else to start over.

And on the other hand. I am still in the place I am because, in some sense, of Katrina and that work. However one wants to portray it- I like: It took the spirit of New Orleans to open Charlie's eyes to how much he loved me. He probably prefers... no, this is my blog, we're going with my version. Everyone would agree, however, that our first trip to New Orleans changed our lives, we spent it interviewing workers on street corners together and having our minds blown. We got "together" a week later. So it is not at all disconnected from Katrina that we a) are a team now and b) came to Arizona so that one (and eventually both) of us can continue working for social justice-- working for the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of the teeming shore. Continuing the work, in a way, in another place that America has broken its promise.

Unfortunately, the food can't compare.

Ted Kennedy

Ted Kennedy died. When they do retrospectives on him, the gist is: everything good, you owe to Ted Kennedy. It makes me very sad. And we've reached the real end of the real "greatest generation" in American history. It's been clear, he and his family have been in a bad place for a long time and so for them I am perhaps a little grateful the hard time has ended... but for America... we're sunk! We'll never get a man so senior, so stately and so ready to rip shit up. I have and had a tremendous amount of respect for this man, he is irreplaceable. I am not sure how often I will be able to say that. What a baby brother made good! So, Teddie, please keep ripping shit up wherever you are, we'll miss you.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Democrats

This is all a little tongue in cheek, but I've really been appreciate President Obama and the dems lately. Maybe because I am the not-working poor.

Some examples:
I listened to a lot of NPR on my drive home from Michigan yesterday. Judge (soon to be Justice?) Sotomayor is so great. What a cool, calm, collected, smart, experienced choice she was. Also, this is maybe my law nerd side, but everyone needs to shut up about how judges are supposed to be umpires. This may be more true in trial court or even appellate court. But one thing I learned from my stint at the WI Supreme Court to a lesser extent, is that cases only get up to that level because they are tough calls. And because both sides have a strong argument and could possibly prevail. Sometimes precedent needs to be overturned-- or we'd be stuck with b.s. like segregation. I know she wasn't supposed to say it, but Sotomayor's quote about policy being made in federal appellate courts... is true. And I for one would rather have someone smart and fair who understands how it works. She's totally not perfect, seems to be really law & order (not in the re-run good way) and pro-prosecution, but criminal cases are really infrequently heard by the Court, comparatively. And I'd rather have that lady, with her experiences and biases, evaluating my case than Clarence Thomas. Once he figures out how to tie his shoe. Also, hip hip hooray for Al Franken's first, well, really anything since getting sworn in. He was smart and humble, I thought. Just how I like my men...

Ok, also, I was getting really jazzed about Dr. Regina Benjamin for Surgeon General. Maybe I'm being naive and we'll learn she has a Cruella DeVille coat made of puppies... but so far, she looks awesome. Coastal Alabaman community doctor for the poor?? Swoon. Again, good work President Obama.

Now on to the personal. I just renewed a book from the Madison Public Library online. This may sound simple, but it's really, really cool that there is a free place that anyone can go and get books. Kids and moms and homeless people and-- me! So, thanks, government for funding the library.

My foodstamps card came finally! I'm officially on the dole. No, this is not how I pictured life after law school... but I am very happy to live in a society where we have things like food stamps. And I will continue to happily pay into these programs for the rest of my working life.

And, finally, thanks to the Dems for getting me relatively cheap COBRA health insurance coverage. You guys are the best!!

There's not a lot I can or should say about this, but I've been trying to figure out, over the past 24 hours or so, why the murder of Johanna Justin-Jinich has bothered me so much. I think it's obvious that the tragic death of any young person should be bothersome, but the fact that it happened at Wesleyan is definitely what makes it stick.  And so I find myself thinking about her family, as one typically would... but also the girl quoted as planning to live with her next year.  I imagine how excited they were about their senior house. Because I know how excited we were. 

I think my mom actually hit it when she said, "It is natural that you would be so bothered – Wesleyan was one of the most emotionally safe & happy times in your life. It’s very sad."  That's still not entirely it, I loved college but it was not a completely happy time- either personally or nationally.

Aside from the personal, Fall of our junior year was 9/11. I remember the feeling on campus so clearly, the generalized fear and lack of information that morning. We somehow could tell the world (and our world) would never be the same... but we were still safe at Wesleyan. The world might have been in flux and scary, the planes crashed about 100 miles away, classmates were worried about where family and friends were.  But there, we were completely safe.  I think what has made me so sad about this is that all of those kids and all the ones to come have lost the ability to feel that way.  When college turns into a blur punctuated by certain memories, like it already has for me, I am afraid their late-night discussions and meteor showers and food fights and silly crushes and prank calls and the excitement of the pre-Presidential Obama graduation speech will fade and the terror and loss of these days will dominate.  

I hope I'm wrong... but yes, I think that's why I'm so bothered.

Question

Sweet Jesus, who is eating a hamburger every day and did we need a ten-year study to tell us those people will die sooner?

See here.

Ok, back to studying for second exam in 2 days. In 22 hours, this whole law school thing is done. Weird. And awesome.

Last week recap (fewer to no links)

Since the last time I wrote, we got a new president, I got a cold, school started, my internship at the Supreme Court started, Chuckles and I had a Manniversary (it's an Anniversary, for men!) and tried to develop a new plan of where we will go and what we will do when school ends in May and we are (ack!) lawyer. Ack. Oh, and Anwar and I got a stalker.

First things first, GoooooOOOObama! It was wonderful, I stayed home that morning and cried into my oatmeal. And a few hours later, cried into my turkey sandwich. So much has been said, you don't need me.

School is annoying, although I only have two classes- Immigration and Trusts & Estates. Those actually seem like things that might come up for you or your friends, so keep me in mind if you ever move to another country or die. Wi. Supreme Court is good, so far. I have a "bench memo" to write about an interesting case... so interesting it's pretty hard to think about and what to do. I can't tell you about it, though, so please stop asking.

For Manniversary, we ate steak at home and drank wine and watched Pineapple Express and didn't use phones or internet. It was very fun. Figuring out what comes next is not as much... we have some irons in the fire, still. It's just hard not to become discouraged by the very worst time to be trying to get any job, much less a government-funded one. And there really hasn't been a wave of people getting the kind of jobs I/we want, and we're just left out... it's slow going, the timetable is later, etc. It's just hard to remember and not be stressful. Waa waa.

In the most important news, yesterday at Indian Buffet lunch with Anwar, we got a stalker/"new friend." He was nervous and blond and told us he used to be in law school but dropped out and now plays online poker as his job. And (not surprising based on the previous sentence) he and his girlfriend are trying to meet more people. Those people are supposed to be us. Naturally, I gave him Anwar's real name and email address... so they may be together right now, enjoying life as new friends. Or Anwar may be fighting for his life. Either way, adventure!

OK, so what was the best part?

Was it literally dancing in the streets?

Was it drinking champagne and crying?

Was it running into a french-canadian acquaintance who embraced me and said, "thank you?"

Ok, how about the smile and tingle each time the radio says "President-elect Obama?"

Or maybe hugging and hi-fiving strangers?

Or maybe talking to loved ones far away, every so completely joyous?

This has been an awesome 18 hours or so. I've had an election-hangover all day. Kind of fuzzy and unsure what happens next. And feeling like spending money and being decadent and thinking about the future....

And I loved Obama's acceptance speech and the emphasis on this not being the end of things, instead the beginning. Which is true. But right now we still need a couple more days of ICANTEVENBELIEVEITOHMYGOD!!!!!!!!

And, let's be honest, probably a lot more crying.

Also, turns out I'm still really white.

Remember to Vote and Ethical Dilemma

I know 2 people personally who are voting for McCain. Not bad... One of them is from Illinois, in Wisconsin at school with me and asked yesterday where to vote early.

Ethical dilemma!

Keep your nasty old John McCain vote away from me! I told her, "Illinois."

"Ha, ha, but really?"

Um.... so I told her.

I feel overwhelmed and scared and excited. The NYTimes.com has a feature, asking voters to describe how they feel in one word- my first one this morning was "aflutter." I can't concentrate on anything, I am pretty sure by this afternoon-- and definitely by the time I have my first beer after class tonight-- my word will be "hotmess."



Also, looks like McCain himself made the right choice:

Tim Wise Does A Really Good Job

White Privilege and the election, via my mom.

Bad Sarah, for reals.

So Sarah Palin is totally crazy. But I guess the real question is, crazy like a fox? (or a caribou, in her case?)

"I believe Alaska is one of the refuge states in the last days, and hundreds of thousands of people are going to come to the state to seek refuge and the church has to be ready to minister to them."

Um, hundred of thousands of people don't even believe Alaska exists. Increasingly, I may be one of them. All of this crazy-ass Sarah Palin stuff has given me some good tips, though. When arguing my point, be sure to mention that's what God wants. She says God wants off-shore drilling. Well, I say God also wants to you find my crack possession client not guilty. God also wants me to have an iPod touch and go on some kind of tropical vacation later this year. Um, and professors, yeah, since it's my last year and all, God would prefer you give me straight As and require no effort on my part. I mean, it's for God and all. Wow, this is awesome. I can see why she's so qualified to be John McCain irregular heartbeat away from leader of superawesome America.

Addendum: Found this-- while Palin was mayor of Wasilla, the town was billing sexual assault victim's insurance for their evidence-collecting exams. WTF?

Kismet

My friend Liv (pronounced "leave") studied abroad with us in Chile and coined a new email address for the move-- liv2chile. It was cute and clever and of course she changed it when we got back and graduated from college...

So this guy is a UW grad, I've met him through one of my professors. And this is his run for Congress:

http://www.kenya2congress.com/

Funny.

Politico

I have a couple of other blog postings in the hopper, but I am in Day 4 of listening to public radio while packing... and this is driving me nuts.

What the hell is wrong with Hillary supporters?!!? (in general, of course some are sensible, like my wife)

Women keep calling in and saying they are Hillary supporters and will now vote for McCain. WTF? Why were you supporting Hillary in the first place? It obviously wasn't to avoid war in Iran, to exit the war in Iraq, for reproductive rights or to protect the environment. Clearly you weren't backing her for universal health care and money for schools and to take care of our most vulnerable neighbors and to rescue us from the past 7 years of bad decisions. This isn't 2000! I, too, thought we had the luxury to pick and choose and poo poo the candidate who wasn't exactly what we were looking for. Al Gore... meh. And then we saw how bad it could get. And then we got John Kerry and he still wasn't something to write home about, but he was something. Now we do have someone to write home about. We have the first African-American nominee of a mainstream party. And a man people are excited about and who stands for something and stands for something very different than what we have and what McCain offers more of. I think this whackos need to take a hard look at themselves, why they made the choice they did in Hillary and what kind of country they want to live in.

And then, like all of us, they need to start working like hell to make it a reality.